Courting: Also Known As Stalking
by Lisa Telramor
Summary: Sequel to Maybe a Career Change in the Future. KID has been busy since Takagi cuffed him. Takagi has had enough.


AN: _I said a loooong time ago I would do a sequel to one of my stories. I tried to do the one you guys voted for, and it refused to be written, so I started one for the Kaito/Takagi story. Well. Here it is. It was kicking around for months, and I finally finished it. It's probably obvious how long was between the parts, but ah, well. I figured I should at least finish this since Almost isn't biting right now. It becomes pretty clear what I ship at the end, but eh. Well, read and review, por favor, and remember, I just play with the characters, not own. :)_

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><p>It was six o'clock, the start of his work shift at the station, and already Takagi was feeling stressed. "I'm telling you, he's stalking me!"<p>

"Mm hmm." Sato looked Takagi up and down. "So you're telling me that Kaitou KID is stalking you and kissed you during the last heist."

"Yes!"

"And he has shown up at three separate places you frequent, in disguise, and propositioned you."

"Yes, yes, we've been through this!" Takagi said. He looked like he hadn't been sleeping well. His hair was unusually messed up and he kept glancing around as if he expected her to suddenly declare that _she_ was Kaitou KID.

"I don't believe you."

His eyes turned and focused on her, pleading. "Sato-san, I'm serious. Ask Conan-kun, he can back me up about the heist. And I'm not imagining things. It's getting to the point where I can _recognize_ him, even with a disguise on."

"Is he a good kisser?" Sato muttered. Her eyes showed her clear disbelief, but she figured she'd humor him. He looked on the verge of a mental breakdown and if she said the wrong thing he'd snap. It was not a heartening sight. If he didn't get better, she would have to talk to Megure-keibu. Her partner couldn't function like this, and to be honest she was starting to worry a bit.

Takagi, oblivious to her worry and sarcasm, went bright red. "How can you even _ask _that?"

"It's a legitimate question." 'Was it wrong to feel amused by his embarrassment?' she wondered.

"Um… It wasn't the worst kiss I've ever had…." His voice trailed off into barely audible mumbles.

Sato shook her head. "Look, next time you see him when we're out, let me know. If it makes you feel better I'll tell someone to watch your mail for suspicious packages or something."

Takagi smiled at her, glad that she was no longer mocking him. "Thank you."

Sato shrugged. For now she'd keep an eye on her partner. If this paranoia got worse, she'd talk Megure-keibu into letting him take a break. It looked like he would need it.

Several days later, Sato took him to a diner for lunch. It had seemed like the perfect break. Get away from the stress of work for a while, have some good food, get excellent, non-departmental coffee… Takagi had actually started to relax. Until the dessert came.

Takagi was staring at his slice of chocolate cake as if it was going to eat him, not the other way around. The sleepy half smile he had had on his face after he finished his second cup of coffee had vanished the second the cake was set down. Sato knew it wasn't cake that was acting as a trigger, since he had ordered it on his own. Therefore there had to be something wrong with it.

"What?" she snapped. Wordlessly, he shoved the confection in her direction. On the chocolate frosting, among the decorative white chocolate roses, was a Kaitou KID caricature grinning up at her cheerfully with a message written in chocolate along the bottom. It was a date, and next to it was a tiny heart with the additional message to check his mailbox when he got home. Sato stared, looked at Takagi and stared again. "He really is stalking you," she murmured.

"I told you!" he squeaked. For a moment his eyes darted around the room. He looked at the waitress. She was too short to be KID. One of the cooks? No, he'd glimpsed them when the kitchen door opened. None of them had felt off. His eyes landed on the manager and narrowed.

Before he could process his actions, he was standing up and stalking toward the other side of the room. He hadn't slept properly in almost a month, he had lost weight, he was paranoid to leave the house, and he kept expecting the thief to jump him in an alley or something. He glared at the manager and knew, without a doubt, that it was KID. "Would you please stop following me?" Even if he was pissed, it was hard to go against the manners that were engrained in him. He felt Sato hovering a bit back to his left, but didn't acknowledge her, eyes locked on KID.

The thief smiled slightly. He was not even bothering to blend in. "I was wondering when you'd confront me."

"I don't understand you at all," Takagi growled. "I want to wring your neck right now and you _smile?_"

"I told you, I like that you have a spine." The tone was flirtatious, but with just enough calm that Sato could tell the man was serious. She glanced at Takagi as his face became steadily redder, for once in irritation rather than embarrassment.

"Leave me alone!"

"But you're fun~!" the thief sing-songed. "Almost as fun as Tantei-kun can be. You both have layers."

Takagi's face twitched, not sure how he should feel about being compared to Conan. "Please tell me you're not a pedophile too."

KID raised a heavy eyebrow, likely the product of some sort of makeup. "Wataru, I do have some sense of decency. Even if chibi-kun has a devilishly attractive mind, I wouldn't court him. I'd probably end up either in jail or a hospital if I tried," he added thoughtfully.

"I thought you monitored him." He ignored Sato's surprised look. He had gotten the impression after running into KID a few times that the man knew a bit too much about Conan-kun's activities.

"Oh, there's a difference between monitoring and courting."

"You mean stalking." He wasn't going to let the point get lost in KID's twisting words.

The thief frowned at him. "I'm not doing anything harmful."

"Just disrupting my life," Takagi snapped back. "Don't you have anyone else to bother?"

KID sighed. "I don't have anyone else I'd currently like to bother." He shrugged. "Nakamori-keibu is fun to annoy, but sadly he becomes predictable. _I'll get you next time KID!_" he said in prefect imitation of the inspector. His voice changed to a creepy old woman's nasally tone. "_And your little doves too!"_

"Wizard of Oz?" Sato guessed, caught up in the performance. She'd never seen anyone do that sort of thing without a voice changer.

"Pin-pon! We have a winner." KID smiled.

"Stop following me," Takagi cut in. "I'm serious. You are giving me a nervous breakdown, and I don't care if you end up bored, just please, go away?" He sighed with all the weariness that had been piling up in the last month. "Please?"

KID glanced at Sato who was looking worried, then took in Takagi's appearance. Internally he berated himself for letting this get out of hand. Beika police officers weren't used to this sort of thing like the KID task force. While he was…fond…of Takagi, perhaps he had gone too far.

He bowed slightly and formally. "I apologize for the inconvenience." He paused, thinking. "I will refrain from interrupting your life from now on unless it is to warn you from danger. I extend this offer of warning to Sato-san. I trust you will take care of him?" he asked Sato, piercing her with an indigo stare.

Sato felt like there was more behind the question than she was picking up, but she nodded. "He's my partner. You can trust I will have his back."

"Good." KID smiled his mischievous grin that threatened to split his face in half.

"So you'll stop stalking me?" Takagi asked as if he couldn't quite imagine being free of his recent second shadow.

"Yes, Wateru-san, I'll stop interfering in your daily life."

"That doesn't sound like you're going to stop watching me."

KID raised a lone eyebrow. "I keep tabs on all my favorite detectives. That way I know when they could use a helping hand or two. Anonymously given of course."

"Of course." An unhappy frown was forming between Takagi's eyebrows. "I can't persuade you to stop monitoring me?"

"Would you prefer I keep track of Sato-san instead?" KID sounded amused as Takagi looked horrified.

"No! Kami, no. Leave Sato-san out of this."

"Relax, Wateru-san. I promised to leave you both alone and I will not contact you without reason." He felt, KID decided, a bit disappointed. He had been having fun; he had forgotten to ensure that the other participant was having the same experience. He forced a cheery, almost flirtatious smile onto his face. He had a reputation to keep. "I suppose I should leave now." Before either officer could react, he kissed both on the cheek. While they looked stunned, he pulled out a smoke pellet and activated it. "Don't take too long getting together," he said in parting.

When the smoke cleared, a baffled Sato was looking at Takagi who looked like he wanted to call the thief back to smack him. The other patrons were alarmed and talking among themselves, and there was a sound of alarm from the kitchen where someone had probably found the missing manager tied up. Takagi sighed. "Now do you understand why I'm so stressed?"

Sato nodded, bemused. "I suppose I do. Why didn't you cuff him?"

"To have him escape five seconds later and find myself cuffed in the process?" He raised an eyebrow. "KID would have laughed it off."

"I see." She paused. "Why did he kiss us?"

"Who knows?" Takagi let out a long sigh. "I think I'd like another cup of coffee. Somewhere else. Then perhaps a movie?" He said the last part hesitantly, putting the suggestion out there in the shy hopeful way he always had around her.

"Sure," Sato said. "It's a date." And if Takagi went bright red at her words, she decided that was fine, since he looked cute that way.

Out on the roof, Kaito watched the two officers leave with mixed feelings. It seemed the two were finally taking a step together. That was good for Wateru, and Sato was obviously quite fond of him as well. It just left Kaito feeling more than a little rejected. Courting was a tricky thing, and it was even harder to differentiate how to go about it when his dual identity as KID was put into the mix. Wateru had rejected him. He sighed and leaned back to watch clouds drift by, still disguised. Oh, well. It wasn't like he didn't have other crushes. Takagi Wateru had been one of the more interesting ones though. Few men blushed at the drop of a hat anymore.

His cell phone, Kaito's, not KID's, started to ring and he checked the ID. Hakuba.

"Moshi moshi?"

"Kuroba-kun?" Hakuba's voice said. "I think one of your doves is nesting in my bedroom."

Kaito catalogued which bird he had on surveillance of Hakuba and tried not to laugh at the idea of Hakuba staring at a dove in his laundry basket or something. "There's a possibility that it is my dove," he said. "Is there a patch of cream colored feathers on her back?"

"One moment." There was rustling on the other end and a mildly annoyed sounding coo from the other end. "Yes, there is a patch of feathers roughly two inches long on her back. …Your bird pecks hard."

"Sorry, Hakuba, Anzu is moody when she nests." Normally he would have noticed if one of his birds were displaying signs that they were getting ready to lay eggs, but he had been distracted lately. Perhaps it was a good thing that he wouldn't be exerting so much energy pursuing someone. "Would you like me to come pick her up?"

"Please," Hakuba said drily. "Care to explain _why_ your bird would choose my room to nest?"

Kaito grinned, knowing exactly what expression was on Hakuba's face right now. It had been directed at him so many times in the past. "But `Kuba, my birds like you."

"For target practice," the detective muttered to himself. He'd been hit a few times too many with dove droppings when Kaito's birds had taken offense to Watson, the hawk's, presence.

Laughing, Kaito got to his feet. "I'll drop by to pick her up."

"Thank you," Hakuba said. "Please do so soon, or I make no promises as to what happens next time I take Watson flying. I would like my underwear drawer to be returned to me."

Kaito was sent into a fit of giggles that overpowered even the momentary worry for his birds at the thought of Anzu nesting in an underwear drawer of all places. "Be right over. Please keep Watson far away from my dove."

"Be quick." Hakuba clicked the phone off without a goodbye, but Kaito felt his spirits life. As always, Hakuba had impeccable timing. He was feeling much better now. And there was always the opportunity to tease Hakuba over this…and see if the detective still had the union jack boxers in his drawer.

Kaito changed into his usual clothes and waltzed down the fire escape. He'd go see how many shades of red Hakuba could turn in one afternoon.


End file.
